


The Next 29 Minutes Are Gonna Flow Like Concrete

by hunnyflower



Series: Shut Up And Talk To Me [2]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Childhood Trauma, Gen, Good Sibling Number Five | The Boy, Hurt Klaus Hargreeves, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Klaus Hargreeves Deserves Better, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Klaus Hargreeves-centric, Protective Number Five | The Boy, Trauma, klaus opens up abt his shit!!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-08
Updated: 2020-11-08
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:13:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27457039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hunnyflower/pseuds/hunnyflower
Summary: “Klaus, you do know it’s not your fault? Right?”Silence.“Klaus?”He sucks in a breath, “I mean, I guess.”Shit.ORKlaus opens up about his trauma, Five is there.
Relationships: Klaus Hargreeves & Everyone, Number Five | The Boy & Klaus Hargreeves
Series: Shut Up And Talk To Me [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1979872
Comments: 5
Kudos: 249





	The Next 29 Minutes Are Gonna Flow Like Concrete

**Author's Note:**

> This is a continuation of The Past Half Hour Wasn't Real!!! Five and Klaus talk n stuff!! we love communication

It’s not unusual for Five to show up in Klaus’ room anymore, the two have gotten much closer since their initial talk where he opened up about Dave. Still, that doesn’t stop the older (younger?) boys shocked gasp when Five shows up at the seat of his bed, eyes tired but persistent.

“What brings you to my abode, brother-o-mine?” Number Four says, picking up his cheery attitude again. Five stares at him, eyes calculating and unforgiving, but still holding sympathy. He knew what it was like, and he didn’t like the idea that Klaus did too. It shouldn’t be surprising, given his brother’s  _ outgoing  _ past, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to kill whatever bastard gave him the memories to calm Five down like that. He wants to scream at Klaus, get the name of the person responsible. 

“What was that,” he says instead, “back there? Why’d you know what to say?”

He knows the reason, of course, but Klaus needs to tell him himself, not have Five force him into giving out the information.

Klaus just looks confused. “I’ve had panic attacks, Five. Not sure if you’ve met me before, I know what they look like.” The boy shakes his head, angry at,  _ for _ , his brother. “That’s not what I’m talking about and you know it. When I talked about  _ Her _ , you knew what to say. Exactly how to handle it. I need to know  _ how _ .”

And Five can see the exact moment Klaus  _ breaks _ , the exact moment his happy facade fades and he’s once again just the little boy who was scared of ghosts and a little too loud sometimes. The same little boy who cried when he thought nobody could hear him, who acted like nothing was wrong and still got berated. 

Then, Five feels bad. He doesn’t usually feel  _ bad  _ for people, let alone Klaus. Seeing his brother, his  _ little brother _ , so helpless and  _ broken _ \- well, it does something to Five. He feels a little regret for bringing it up, he had not a single doubt in his mind that if he were Klaus right now he would probably have yelled Five by now, told him he was  _ fine _ . He never talks about what The Handler did to him, and he’d never talk about it if asked. So he knows where Klaus is coming from. But he needs Klaus to talk to him, because Five knows that nobody else would care to notice it. 

“You don’t have to say anything right now, but I need you to talk to me.”

Klaus looks up at him with big teary eyes, his body curled in on itself. Five lets out a shaky breath, communicating was never his forte. He sees his brother’s body shake, and instinctively coils in on himself, afraid of messing up.

“I need to know you’re okay.” Five says, heart breaking when he hears Klaus gasp a little. The Hargreeves were never a perfect family, never good with emotions. But seeing his brother so broken down and clearly not okay, Five wishes they were. Wishes he could have stopped them before Klaus got hurt. Saved him from being able to relate with Five in the slightest.

“It was a while ago,” Klaus’ voice startles him, “ I don’t- I was probably high o-or something, too out of it to really remember,” 

And then he starts crying. Klaus starts crying and Five feels terrible, it’s his fault. He jumps over to his brother, hugging him as best as he can in the position they’re in. He shushes Klaus, rubbing a hand over his brother’s back. They don’t have to talk about things now, Five decides.

“How do waffles sound?” Five asks instead, holding onto his brother as if he’s afraid he’ll slip away and out of his grasp. If he’s honest with himself, he wouldn’t blame him if Klaus decided to run away from him. He’d pushed too hard, broke too many boundaries.

Klaus makes a choked sound that seems a little too close to crying for Five, so he brings them down into the kitchen and starts cooking. The waffles aren’t anything special, and definitely not worth praise for, but Klaus smiles at him anyway, and that’s enough. 

Until he notices his other siblings sitting on the other side of the room, sprawled out across the different couches and seats. They seem to be stunned into silence, for whatever reason Five can’t seem to pinpoint, but he glares at them anyway. A silent warning to leave Klaus alone.

Luther, ever the idiot, doesn’t seem to notice his glare.

“What’s up with Klaus?” he asks.

His brother's eyes go wide and he stops eating, frozen in place. Five directs his gaze to Luther, moving next to Klaus with ease and placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. A message saying ‘it’s okay, I’ve got you’.

Klaus swallows the remaining food he had, hands shaking ever so slightly. 

“Nothing you need to worry about, Luther.” Five all but growls, shifting his eyes to their other siblings as well, trying to gauge their reaction. They at least have the decency to keep their mouths shut, but he doesn’t miss their judging eyes.

Klaus shoots him a look and takes a deep breath. “It’s okay,” he hears him murmur, unable to tell if that was meant for Five or Klaus or even Ben, who seems to trail beside Klaus even when he doesn’t need to. “Might as well get this over with now, before it comes up again.”

He takes an even deeper breath, shakes off any visible worrying he had, and sets down his fork.

“Well you see, Luther dear, Five-o and I were having such a lovely conversation. Actually it was more like Five was talking and I was sitting there, as you do, crying like a baby! Isn’t that nice.” Klaus eventually says, and Five eyes him a little. He doesn’t want Klaus to do anything he doesn’t want to do, even if it seems like he has to. 

The atmosphere around the three is more tense than before Luther had decided to open his mouth. Klaus looks ready to run away, and Five really wouldn’t blame him. He himself  _ really  _ wants to punch his brother, but he doesn’t.

“He asked about our little talk this morning,” Klaus says, putting his hands behind his head,”the little details. You know how it is.”

A pause.

“About my-- what do you call it-- past? I don’t really want to, but my therapist says it’s good to open up,” He waves his hands around for effect, “that’s where you all come in.”

“You have a therapist?” Allison says, and Klaus ignores her. “So where should I start? The mausoleum? The drug abuse? Oh what about Vietnam?” He rambles, his words drawing the attention of all his siblings. That was a discussion for later.

“How about you start with what I asked about.” Five glares, the unspoken  _ ‘we’re talking about this later’  _ lingering between them.

Klaus’ smile breaks a bit, and he sighs. “Can’t escape it forever,” he mutters.

“Well you see, dear brother, I lived on the street for what, a decade? And some? Whatever, it was a long time. And I’m like, super hot, obviously. So people were bound to come along, and I needed somewhere to stay. Do you see where I’m getting with this?” Klaus says. And Five does, truely, that doesn’t mean he enjoys it though. He nods.

“Well I was just willing to do  _ anything  _ for money, y’know?”

Oh.

“So when he pushed a little too far, I didn’t stop him.”

_ Oh. _

“It’s my fault really,”

Five’s hands clench into fists, grip tight around his arms.

“It wasn’t bad honestly, I think that was just his  _ thing _ , y’know?”

His eyes twitch and Five bites his tongue.

“I could have said no, in hindsight, but I don’t really think he would have stopped if I did.”

Five almost chokes.

“Maybe he thought that was part of the deal?”

He can hear his siblings breathing.

“I don’t know, but he didn’t let me stay over afterwards. It was unfortunate, really.”

_ That  _ was what Klaus was worried about? Not being able to stay?

“It’s not all his fault, that was just part of my job.”

A class shatters, and Vanya tucks away with a meek ‘ _ sorry _ ’. Five doesn’t blame her, he was two seconds from killing the asshole.

“Klaus, you do know it’s not your fault? Right?”

Silence.

“Klaus?”

He sucks in a breath, “I mean, I guess.”

_ Shit _ .

“Well it’s not. Do you remember his name?” Five says, trying to keep himself under control.

Klaus ducks his head, “Uh I don’t- I don’t remember, sorry.” 

“That’s fine, any special features I should know about?”

Klaus gives the man's description, he had a scar covering one of his eyes, and was half blind.

Interesting.

“I’m proud of you, Klaus.” Five whispers, moving to hold his brother as tight as he can.

And if anyone hears the crying when Klaus goes back upstairs to his room, nobody mentions it.

**Author's Note:**

> sorry gamers 


End file.
